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Most individuals look for signs of allergies on their skin, but it not the only organ of our bodies that can exhibit allergic reactions. The eyes are very sensitive because they are openly exposed to the elements. Allergic reactions can often be seen there as well.

In this article we will take a look at some of the most frequent allergic reactions and diseases that can be identified in the eyes. The most common allergic reactions in the eyes are redness and itchiness. These signs are mutual to several allergies and a few diseases as well.

It is very difficult for the non-professional medical person to diagnose the reasons for these indications. Pain or prolonged discomfort ought to be treated by a GP as soon as possible since some quite dangerous illnesses reveal themselves in the eyes.

If you get red or pink eye in just one eye, the cause is probably an infection, maybe from something that you introduced into your eye with your finger or a handkerchief. If the redness is in both eyes, the cause is probably an allergy or a disease.

Common allergens are pollen, cosmetics, pollution, dust, antiperspirant, perfumes and other sprays. These substances usually cause redness of the eyes and watering. Occasionally the allergic reaction can be fairly severe even resulting in headaches and nausea.

Individuals also suffer an allergic reaction to pets. Well, not actually the animals themselves but their hair, their dead skin and the skins cast off by fleas that frequently live on them. If you have a pet and have started suffering since you got it, you have a few choices: get rid or it, take medication or, if it is a dog, wash and brush it more frequently. It is hard to bathe a cat, but you can also be allergic to birds and their detritus.

Pollen allergy is very widespread and there are medications to help reduce your sensitivity to it at the time of year when pollen is most predominant. Another thing that you can do to reduce your susceptibility to allergens is to inaugurate air conditioning.

Modern air conditioning units have filters of varying complexity. Some filters will filter out pollen, pet detritus and numerous other allergens including pollution. Vacuuming is another useful tool in the battle against allergies.

Redness of the eyes tends to suggest allergy (or tiredness), but it could be more significant if the condition persists. Yellow or brown eyes frequently indicate a problem with the liver and especially jaundice. Jaundice (or hepatitis) should be treated by a medical doctor instantly because it can cause permanent scarring of the liver.

You may also see ‘floaters’ drifting in you field of vision. Some of these floaters or drusen are common in older individuals, but they can also be a symptom of something more serious than just age. Two of these illnesses could be cataracts or macular degeneration. Cataracts can be removed, but macular degeneration requires frequent treatment.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

Despite the alternative of the Atkins diet, most individuals who go on a diet take the advice of reducing their fat consumption in order to reduce their bulk, which is fat. However, there is not a lot of evidence to support the theory that decreasing the intake of fat will reduce how much fat you amass on your body.

The only strategy that can work in the long term, if you would like to lose weight, is to use up more calories than you take in. However, there is a lot of proof to say that we require some oil and in particular some oils in our diet. This makes sense even on the most simple level, you need some oil (read ‘fat’) in order to oil your joints.

It therefore makes sense that athletes and people who have a tiring job also need oil in some amount. However, it does not follow that eating just any oil or fat will be decent enough. There are good fats and ‘bad’ fats, although we even require some of the bad fats. The worries arise when we eat too much bat fat and not enough good fat.

In other words, if our diet gets out of kilter. For instance, animal fats (such as saturated fats) have a blanket ‘bad’ reputation, but they supply our bodies with such vital vitamins as A,D, E and K. Likewise fish oil supplies our bodies with Omega 3 essential fatty acids that it is impossible to get from land-based foodstuffs.

These vitamins and oils in their most accessible forms are derived from dead animals. In the case of the long-chain omega 3 essential fatty acids like EPA and DHA, you can only get them from sea creatures, although you can derive the short-chain omega 3′s from some land-based sources.

These vitamins and essential oils are vital to all human life but even more so to finely-tuned sports people who have to be able to utilize all their physical and mental powers in order to get to the top of their professions.

Omega 3 essential fatty acids come in two broad types, long-chain and short-chain varieties but they are not identical. You need both sorts. Short chain you can acquire from flaxseed oil and it also has omega 6 in it too, although it is considered by many that most people consume far too much omega 6 as it is present in all vegetable cooking oils.

Oily fish delivers the long-chain omega 3′s, so cod liver oil is a decent source of these. These omega 3′s are literally ‘brain food’ and it is the reason why parents have been saying for hundreds of years that fish is brain food, although they certainly would not have known the precise reason why.

Cod liver oil also provides a spectrum of other vitamins and nutrients including vitamin D, which you could synthesize from the sunshine, if the ozone layer was not so thin as to make going out dangerous and we didn’t nearly all work indoors.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now concerned with pure omega 3. If you want to know more, please go to our web site at Omega 6 9

Aging has its advantages, like having more experience, having family and frequently having fewer financial worries, but it also brings other worries with it as well, usually health problems. One of the health worries that older individuals worry about is their eyesight.

Most people like to be independent, but blindness causes you to be dependent, particularly if you go blind whilst you are older. At least whilst you are younger, you have a long time to learn how to deal with it.

There are a number of ways that you can lose your sight when you are older but one that effects 10% of those more than 65 and 30% of those over 75 years is macular degeneration. It is often referred to as age-related macular degeneration, ARMD or just AMD because it tends to have an effect on those individuals who are more than 50 years of age.

However, macular degeneration only affects the centre 2.1% of your field of vision, so it is very rare for ARMD to become the cause of complete blindness. The difficulty is that that 2.1%, centre field of vision is highly important for recognizing people and for reading.

So what can you do about it, if you get ARMD? One option would be to get a guide dog, a ‘blind dog’, as they say in the UK or a ‘seeing eye dog’ as they say in America. A guide dog will help prevent you from bumping into objects, which you may well do if you lose your middle field of vision.

Most registered blind individuals are not totally blind. Some are worse off than others but sufferers of ARMD normally retain 97.9% of their field of vision, which is the peripheral vision. A guide dog would cover the remainder for you.

Guide dogs are taught as puppies so they will stay with their blind friends for seven or eight years or more This allows the dog and the owner to build up a wonderful relationship, as all people do with their dogs. However, the rapport of a blind person with a guide dog though is extra-special. The dog knows that it is being depended upon for its master’ safety.

If you choose to go down the road of procuring a guide dog, the best place to begin is your national association for the blind, the address of which you can find either at your doctor’s, in Yellow Pages or on the Net. Some countries’ organizations will charge you for providing a guide dog and others will subsidize your procuring a guide dog and its training.

It would be a good idea to arrange a guide dog as soon as you are diagnosed with a disease that threatens your eyesight because that will give you more time to get to know and select a puppy as your future companion.

If you are lucky and your physician saves your eyesight, you have lost nothing and you have acquired a wonderful, intelligent friend, but if the worst comes to the worst, you will have an invaluable, seeing, protective, wonderful, intelligent friend. You cannot lose.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Macular Degenerative Disease

It is nice to soak in a hot tub, is it not? After a long day at the hamster wheel or sorting the family out – driving the kids to and from school and then to the scouts, sports club or music lessons. Being stuck in traffic on the way home or waiting in the queue at the supermarket, a long soak in a hot tub helps wash it all away.

Imagine then what a hot tub spa or Jacuzzi could do? Sitting in a hot spa tub with a long cool drink whilst half a dozen jets are blasting hot water and bubbles at you, massaging you gently, easing the stresses of the day away.

You could place one in the garden or in the bathroom. You could even buy a portable hot spa tub and move it into the garden in the summer and back inside in the winter. If you ask most individuals what they want to have in the way of home improvement, a swimming pool would probably be number one and a Jacuzzi number two.

There again, a lot of people do not have the room for a swimming pool and a Jacuzzi is a lot cheaper than a swimming pool as well. Water has a calming effect on individuals. Maybe it is a primeval memory of when we came out of the sea millions of years ago or maybe it is a more recent memory of being in the womb.

Whatever the reason or even mixture of reasons, individuals like to be in, around or on water, it relaxes and invigorates us. And frothing, bubbling water is even more relaxing and even more invigorating. Hence the popularity of hot tub spas.

Another reason might be gravity. All day long we are lumbering about, each foot step sending shock waves into our body and gravity pulling down on so that we feel every ounce of our weight, but as soon as we are in water, we are buoyed up and the effects of our weight and of gravity are felt far less.

In fact, up to 30% less. Additionally, we are ninety-odd percent water, so no surprise we feel tranquil in a hot tub. But that is not all that a soak in a hot tub does. It warms you right through, through to the marrow and that relieves minor aches and pains. The reduction in gravity is also said to be a relief to sufferers of arthritis.

There are possibly other reasons as well why individuals feel more relaxed in a tub of hot water, especially a whirlpool type spa tub, but one for me is that I will not get out of the tub for anything except to get another drink. Once I am in there, I do not care if the phone rings or the door bell chimes. The house would have to be on fire to get be me out before my skin looks like a wrinkled old prune.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with second hand hot tubs. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Hot Springs Spa Parts

An RV – a Recreational Vehicle – is like a house on wheels. It is the landlubber’s counterpart to a barge, you can live in it whilst travelling the country. You are as free as a bird in your RV as you do not need to go where the hotels are located.

Having said that, the RV is also a mobile bomb carrying gallons of petrol or diesel and bottles of propane or calorgas. Therefore, you need to have clear safety procedures in place and you need to know and follow them. Fire safety is of the highest importance to the conscientious RV driver.

Fire extinguishers are rated as either A, B, C, or D, which explains the type of fire that they can be used to combat. If you did not already know it, you can not merely squirt any fire extinguisher at any sort of fire. Using the wrong extinguisher on a fire can increase the risk, so be cautious.

Having said that, some fire extinguishers can be used on different kinds of fires, so it is possible to find extinguishers rated as AB, BC and even ABC. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that all RV’s carry a BC rated extinguisher near the main exit from the RV. A BC type extinguisher should be used to combat fires starting from flammable liquids and gases – just what an RV driver needs.

The key point about a fire extinguisher of the correct sort is that it has to be in the right place. It is no good having a fire extinguisher if you cannot get to it to combat the fire when it breaks out.

If the diver’s cab is separate from the living compartment, you should carry an extinguisher in the cab too. Keep one outside the RV and one inside it too.

It is a decent idea to devise a fire prevention and fire safety course before you set out and make certain that your companions know how best to prevent and how best to deal with fires in the RV. Fires in restricted spaces such as an RV, a caravan or a boat are particularly terrifying and perilous, because you are more likely to be overcome by the smoke and gases than in a house. Finding your route out of an unfamiliar RV that is full of smoke is not as simple as you might think.

You ought to also instruct your companions how to operate a fire extinguisher – after all, most individuals have never used one. Bear in mind the word ‘PASS’, which stands for ‘Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep’.

This means, pull the pin, aim at the base of the fire, squeeze the handle and sweep the spray across the base of the fire until it is out. The best distance from the fire is about eight feet, but this is not always possible.

If you have to make a choice between saving the vehicle or endangering your life, let the RV burn, after all, it is insured. Never put yourself or others at risk for the sake of property.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now involved with Safety Glasses USA. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Safety Glasses Bifocal

The household budget represents a substantial part of most families’ expenditure and of that the greatest part of the bill is for food. Meat probably forms the largest part of that food bill too, so you would be forgiven for thinking that you could save a lot of money by giving up meat. You would suppose that becoming a vegetarian would save you some money.

However, that is not always true. You can save money by taking up vegetarianism on a budget, yet it does not necessarily work out that in that manner without some effort on behalf of the vegetarian. The fact is that vegetables, on their own, often seem boring to someone who used to get pleasure from a good steak or barbecued spare ribs, so food manufacturers have come up with all manner of accoutrements to liven up vegetarian dishes yet these are not usually all that cheap.

Even some of the fairly regular vegetarian staple foodstuffs like nuts are not necessarily cheap, especially if you like variety. After all, you can not just eat salted peanuts, not that all that salt would be good for you anyway but when you start to buy macademia nuts or pistachio nuts for a change, you will find them more expensive than meat.

Eating out at vegetarian restaurants is also relatively costly, because the market is relatively small. There are not many restaurants that refuse to cook meat but the percentage of the population that is vegetarian is still pretty small. This all leads to higher charges, yet that is if you can find a vegetarian restaurant outside a large city. A sandwich bar is about the nearest you will become to it in most towns but there will become meat on the premises too.

The cost of vegetarian food is made worse if you insist on eating organically grown food. Eating only organically grown food can add 30% to your food bill making vegetarianism on a budget impossible. So what can you do to reduce the price of your food bill if you are a vegetarian?

The first thing to do is make a decision if you actually believe the whole organic story. Some do, some do not. Either way, you could try growing the costly vegetables in your garden, your greenhouse or in an allotment. If you can not do that, you could offer to buy these vegetables from friends, if they will grow them for you. Lots of pensioners take up gardening and lots of pensioners would be glad of the extra income.

Another manner is to shop at farms or farmers’ markets. I know that time is valuable, but if you can merely go to such a position once a week, you could buy enough food for three or four days without it deteriorating. Buying in bulk like that ought to become cheaper as well. A sack of potatoes will last a month yet it is far cheaper than buying a couple pounds at a time from the supermarket.

Another method of reducing costs is not to buy your fresh fruit and vegetables from supermarkets at all, because it easy to become enticed to buy the latest fad fruit or vegetable from halfway around the world at an exaggerated price ‘just for a change’. Stick to locally grown fruit and vegetables that are in season and you might just about manage vegetarianism on a budget.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, and is now concerned with low carb vegetarian recipes. If you want to know more, please go to our website at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com

Water can be dangerous particularly for families with small children, so each family with a hot tub ought to have some type of safety policy. This article will give some fundamental hot tub safety tips that can be adopted by families for the protection of its children and other members.

The first safety tip for hot tubs is never to leave children alone with a hot tub full of water. It is not a matter of whether the child can swim or not. Children play, fight and mess about. They could fall over, bang their head, be knocked unconscious and drown. There are a number of scenarios where this could happen and it is simply better to not give bad luck a chance. Do not allow children in a tub on their own or even anywhere close by it if it is full.

It is fairly usual to have an alcoholic drink whilst in the hot tub in the evening, but be wary not to become drunk. It is very dangerous to be out of control or even fall unconscious while you are in or in water and this goes doubly for a hot tub because they are so relaxing. The warm water, the soothing motion of the water and excess alcohol or other drugs could lead to you falling asleep and drowning.

However, it is not only while you are in the tub that being drunk is risky, being a bit wobbly is arguably even more perilous when you are getting in or out of the tub because you could fall, bump your head and drown while unconscious. Never let anyone use your hot tub if they are intoxicated or stoned unless there are sober or straight people there as well. This rule ought to be applied to those on medication as well.

Another danger, be it ever so slight is that of long hair being sucked into the filtration and cleaning system. If a young child with long hair had its hair sucked into the drain, it could have difficulty getting back above the water line, particularly if it panicked. Another reason never to leave children unsupervised in a pool or spa.

It is a good idea to know how to turn the spa’s motor or pump off quickly, so that if there is problem with hair entanglement, you can release the child by turning the pump off quickly which should release the child.

The electricity supply to the tub will be pretty well protected, especially if it was installed by a professional, but is worth checking every now and again that the cables are all still shielded from water, because as we all know, water and electricity do not mix well.

Also keep this in mind if you take any mains powered apparatus like a radio, TV or computer to the spa with you too. Locate all electrical devices well away from the spa and far enough away that they will not get splashed. They can be controlled by a remote device without any danger.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with Hot Springs hot tubs. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Hot Springs Spa Parts

Only children like the idea of getting older, most adults want to halt the aging process or even set it going backwards, if they could. However, as we all know, that is impossible, which is why they invented the next best thing, day spas, beauty salons and all the creams, lotions and treatments that they provide to endeavour to stem the results of aging.

And to be fair, some of them can do a pretty good job. In this piece, we will look at the services offered by day spas. A day spa is comparable to a beauty salon but with water events offered too. A day spa is an extended beauty salon and may be located in a larger place, especially if there is a swimming pool on site.

The main difference between a beauty salon and a day spa is that in a beauty salon, you are given all your treatments and then you leave, whereas in a day spa, you can hang about a bit in between treatments or remain in the pool or sauna longer than the allotted 15-20 minutes, if you want to.

A day spa is more relaxed and people tend to spend more time in them. There may even be a bar or a juice bar or / and a place to get light, health snacks like a salad or a vegetarian sandwich.

One of the most popular treatments at a spa is the massage. There are different types of massage, so it may take you a time to find your favourite if you have not had a massage before. Some of the types of massage frequently on offer are: Thai massage, Japanese massage, full body massage, oil massage and a foot massage. Additionally, some spas will use hot towels on your face to clean out pores and hot stones on your spine for deep heat.

You might also fancy a body wrap or a mud pack or even a mud bath! These treatments can really make your skin look younger by deep cleaning the pores of pollutants, make up and everyday grime. They make you feel ten years younger for a while, but they tighten up the skin and make you look younger for a time as well.

Perhaps you would prefer to concentrate on your hands and / or feet? Then you could have a full manicure and / or pedicure. These treatments could include a local massage, skin and nail treatments followed by an oil treatment. You could also be given a foot spa, which is like a mini-jacuzzi. A foot spa is fantastic if you have been on you feet all day. They might also use heated socks or mittens.

Half an hour in a hot tub, a jacuzzi or even a steam box are other services that may be there at day spas which you are unlikely to find in a beauty salon. When you arrive at the day spa, check out any cheap day packages. You can often save a bit of money on the individual treatments supplied.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with portable hot tubs spas. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Hot Springs Spa Parts

Have you ever thought about getting away from it all and going on a huge detox mission? There is a great deal to be said for giving your body a break from all the pollution, smoke, noise, fast-paced lifestyle and stress and the substances that we use to handle that stress like alcohol, tobacco, coffee and worse. It is not so bad while your body is young, yet as it gets older, it becomes less capable of dealing with all the stuff we give it to deal with.

Costa Rica may sound like a long way to go to visit a spa or health resort, but it is just a flight away. The reason for selecting Costa Rica is because it is like a home from home for Americans, and the ambiance is a lot slower and more easy-going. There are lots of health spas and retreats to choose from in Costa Rica and a brief search on the Internet will reveal many of them.

Spanish is the foremost local language, but English is spoken by over ten percent of the adult population and tourist facilities are well developed in the form of exchanging currencies, restaurants and hotels. The country is unpolluted and environmentally friendly.

For instance, according to Wikipedia, Costa Rica is ranked third in the world and first among the Americas in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance Index and in 2007, the government declared that it intended for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. Moreover, the Happy Planet Index ranks Costa Rica as number one in the world and also as the “greenest country in the world”.

Where better could you go to escape pollution and stress than a health spa or retreat in such a country? Many of the resorts offer stress reducing schemes that include methods of relaxation such as yoga, meditation, reiki, massage and tai-chi, although there are lots of places offering water sports such as diving, sailing and surfing. There is fantastic diving to be had in warm, clear water, which is teaming with flora and fauna.

Prices are low when compared with the United States. You can get a hotel or a room in a retreat for $25-$50 and up and a good meal will cost $2-$4. There are all sorts of food but particularly the types of food associated with Spanish and American cuisine. Vegetarians are well catered for as well and there is fish and other seafood in profusion for those who rather it to meat.

Some of the health spa resorts have rooms for you to stay in while others offer just day time courses. The retreat style resorts are live-in and many are similar to communes. The facilities vary from being ‘hippyish’ and pretty basic in some of the retreats to being as modern as anywhere in the world in the health spas, offering swimming pools, gymnasiums and hot tub spas.

All in all, if you are thinking of going abroad for a healthy, restful break, a holiday in Costa Rica should be on your short list.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with portable hot tubs spas. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Hot Springs Spa Parts

The uncontrolled growth of cells is a disease known as cancer. Other malignant properties of cancer are an invasion that destroys contiguous tissues and metastasis i.e. the spreading to other areas of the body via the blood or the lymph glands. Benign tumors are different from cancer in that they do not invade or metastasize.

Either environmental or hereditary factors can be the cause of cancer. Primarily, it is an environmental disease with enhanced risk from genetic influences. The foremost environmental reasons behind the cause of cancer are obesity, smoking, pollution, illness and radiation etc..

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common sorts of cancer. It takes place in the ovaries of women which is why it is known as ovarian cancer. There are two ovaries in females, one on either side of the uterus. Both eggs and hormones i.e. estrogen, testosterone and progesterone are made by the ovaries.

Mostly, it occurs in those women who have reached their menopause. Usually an ovarian cancer is a kind of epithelial cancer i.e. cancer in the outer cells of an ovary. Most common kinds of epithelial cancer of the ovaries are serous. Less commonly known types are clear cell and endometrioid ovarian cancers

Almost 85% of the women treated for ovarian cancer are above the age of 50, although there are possibilities of its occurrence in younger women as well. Multiple genetic mutations are the cause of this cancer. The danger of the disease is greater in those women who have never had a baby.

The danger is higher for those whose menstrual cycle starts at an early age and whose menopause happens late. Infertility is the biggest danger factor behind this disease. Personal or family history of breast cancer increases the risk of ovarian cancer too.

The indications of the disease are not specific to it and it normally begins stealthily. Some of the indications of ovarian cancer are pelvic pain, abdominal pressure, indigestion or wind, constipation, lower back pain, the frequent need to urinate, loss of appetite, pain with intercourse, alterations in the menstrual cycle and a deficiency of energy.

The indications of ovarian cancer tend to be persistent and they worsen with time. An appointment with a medical doctor must be made if any of the above mentioned indications happen each day for two to three weeks. If someone has a family history of this cancer, she must make contact with her GP for further diagnosis of the problems.

The most widespread diagnostic procedures and check ups are pelvic examination, ultrasound, CA 125 blood test and surgery for removing samples to test (biopsy). Four stages of ovarian cancer are recognized according to the concentration of the disease.

The healing of ovarian cancer is possible. Researchers are working on creating methods of identifying it at earlier stages because it is very problematic to treat it at later stages. The most common form of treatment for ovarian cancer is a blend of chemotherapy and surgery.

Healthy habits like eating a balanced diet, exercising and getting enough sleep can be useful to control your symptoms of the disease. Although there is no sure way to protect you from this illness, the danger of getting ovarian cancer can be reduced by thinking about the risks and benefits of using birth control pills and discussing issues with your doctor.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

The majority of insects will defend themselves if they feel threatened. This is fairly amazing when you think about how big insects are compared with the mammalian interloper. Most insects will only atttack if you wander into their territory. There are also insects that have to drink blood but they actively seek their prey. This type includes insects like mosquitoes and fleas.

Ants form the biggest section of biters. All ants will try to bite if they feel the need, but most black ants simply do not possess big enough mandibles (or jaws) to get a grasp. The big exception in all ant and ant-like species are the soldiers, which have colossal mandibles compared to the workers.

Red ants can bite with or without poison and some sting too. Formic acid is their normal chemical weapon. Some ants inject it, which is what we feel when we get bitten by red ants, but other ants spray it into the eyes of its aggressors.

The most agonizing sting of any insect is delivered by the Bullet Ant of Central and South America. The Bullet Ant’s sting has the top rating possible on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The scale goes from zero to four; zero being painless (to humans) through two for bees and wasps to four for excruciating pain.

The Fire Ant, which is famous for its agonizing bite ranks a 1.2 on this scale, but level 1.8 is likened to having a staple shot into your cheek. The European honey bee is on level two and the Red Harvester Ant is on number three.

Some bites and stings are not so high on the scale but can still be deadly. The Jack Jumper Ant is in this group and individuals, especially hypersensitives, have been known to die from Fire Ant stings, which inject piperidine alkaloids rather than formic acid.

The mandibles of the Trap Jaw Ant are the fastest closing jaws in the animal kingdom. They have been measured at 230 KPH (143 MPH). Another extraordinary ant defence is carried out by a Malaysian species: it ejects its stomach unto its aggressor. The stomach acids contain acetophones which completely immobilize insects. Unfortunately, the soldier dies because its stomach has been torn out.

Bees, ants and wasps are all related in the order known as Hymenoptera. Bees and wasps just sting although some wasps do have large jaws as well. One definition of a wasp is ‘any insect of the order Hymenoptera that is neither a bee nor an ant’ (Wikipedia).

Not all wasps are black and yellow. There are not many insects that do not have a type of wasp preying on it, which makes them very important in the biocontrol of harmful insects. A lot of wasps do not sting their prey to kill it for food, they sting it to paralyze it.

When paralyzed, the wasp lays her eggs in the prey, which becomes fresh food for her young when they hatch out. This is usually the only time that a wasp eats flesh in its whole life, because adult wasps eat nectar and honey like bees.

When a bee stings it releases pheromones which encourage other bees nearby to sting as well. The most aggressive stingers though are vespid wasps (common black and yellow wasps).

Fleas, ticks and bed bugs, unlike mosquitoes, really feed on blood, that is they use it for food, whereas the mosquito uses it as the ‘white’ of her eggs. There have been times in our history when losing a few drops of blood to a flea was not the worst thing about being bitten by them. They also carried the Plague, which wiped out a large percentage of the population of Europe a number of times.

Spiders and scorpions make up the causes of the majority of insect bites although they are comparatively rare.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

Ready to have a root-tooting good time? Do you enjoy freedom and speed? Well, Razor Scooter is flying in style and with fantastic colours. Today, numerous people use the Razor as a toy for the young, but some do use it for sport too. A lot of youngsters like to do stunts with the Razor. The Razor is for kids of all ages.

People of all ages are riding them everywhere. Back in 1999, the Razor Scooter appeared to the public and really became popular in 2000. It was invented by Micro Mobility System. At that time it was manufactured by JD Corporation.

Now the Razor is manufactured by Razor USA, which is out of Cerritos, California. Whilst the market fell out for scooters, Wim Ouboter, the owner, kept working to enhance the Razor.

The body of the razor is an aluminum frame and has a hinged fender covering the rear wheel. This is pressed down with the foot and acts as a spoon break. This adds further control for the youngster. When a release latch is opened, the handlebars and headtube fold up.

This makes the Razor very convenient for carrying and for storage. The Razor is very lightweight so it is easy to handle. Don?t let this concern you, as it is very hard-wearing.

The Razor comes in numerous colors and models. Some even have light up wheels. There are many models to choose from to fit your own requirements and comfort. Some of the colors available are red, black, pink, blue, and green.

Then if you are really into colors you can buy the ‘Hello Kitty’ or ‘Sweet Pea’. There are also electric Razors on the market for those that choose to go that way. The cost of Razors varies with the size and model that you buy. You can save some money by checking the Internet and finding a sale on one.

As with any product, there are safety guidelines that go with the Razor. It is advisable to wear the gear that is designed for people riding on a Razor. Those would be a helmet, and knee and elbow pads. Wearing lace up shoes with rubber soles is encouraged. It is also recommended not to wear sandals or to go barefoot.

Before you get on be sure to check your Razor. Make certain the handlebars are safe, tighten all bolts, and modify the steering tube to the correct height. Also make sure the handle bars, steel tube and steel tube extension are all locked into place.

Also check the wheels for any wear and tear. If this is your first time riding a Razor refer to the owner?s manual. It is wise to avoid water, sand, gravel, in-line skaters, and speed bumps. A small bump can make the front wheel stop which is a big cause of accidents.

If you happen to be one of the lucky owners of a Razor you will find a great deal of pleasure with them. Safety has to be a big concern. Take care and happy riding!

If this piece has whetted your appetite for a Razor Pocket Bike or one of the others in the range|, just go over to our web site now for more information and bargains at Razor A Scooter

There are over 3,500 species of the mosquito and they have been about for more than 30 million years. The word mosquito comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word for little fly. They are similar to crane flies and chironomid flies. Mosquitoes are a member of the Culicidae family, which means midge or gnat.

Both males and females feed on nectar and plant juices, but in some species, the female has to feed on humans, because she needs the nutrients protein and iron to help her produce eggs. The females? feeding on humans is the reason for numerous infectious illnesses that has an effect on millions of humans each year.

The adult female lays her eggs in still water. This could be a lake, bucket of water, a puddle, and in some cases, a few droplets on a plant.

The mosquito is a holometabolous insect. This means that it will go through four phases which are outlined here:

The first stage is the larvae. This is the recently hatched phase of various insects that vary considerably from the adult.

The next stage is known as the pupa. This is a non-feeding time that takes place between the larvae and the adult phases.

The pupa floats on the water and the adult mosquito will emerge from the pupa at this time. The adult mosquito lives between four and eight weeks.

The mosquito has three senses. They are chemical, visual, and heat. There are certain things that attract a mosquito to a person.

Carbon dioxide and lactic acid attract a mosquito. These are found in warm blooded mammals and birds. Regular breathing puts out these types of gases. Some sweat will also send off these gases.

Garments that contrast with the backdrop will interest a mosquito also. Heat is easily detected by a mosquito.

Mosquitoes can be found in a cool spot during the day whilst it is hot. If they are disturbed, they will bite during this time. They are more lively while it is cooler.

Mosquitoes are known to infect humans with numerous kinds of illnesses. They carry viruses and parasites from human to human. Some common viral diseases are malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and Chikungunya.

It is likely that more than two million individuals die from these illnesses every year. It has been found that most of these diseases are carried by ?elderly? females.

There are many products on the market to help prevent mosquito bites and chancing acquiring a deadly infection. Lots of these products contain DEET. It is extremely recommended. DEET can also be applied full strength, but 20-50% is normally powerful enough.

Some of the brand name insect repellents are: Off, Cutter, White Mountain, and Repel. There are also candles, wipes, nets, traps, and foggers obtainable on the market. There are also organic repellents on the market. You can also make your own repellent.

Smoke from campfires and mud or clay assists keep mosquitoes from biting. Some herbs, such as Rosemary, will also keep mosquitoes away.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on a number of topics, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

Who would have thought that the London Underground is home to a unique species of mosquito? The species is called the London Underground mosquito and is considered to have evolved from Culex pipiens. The London Underground species has been dubbed Culex pipiens molestus, because it is a vigorous biter.

It is not new, but it is comparatively new in biological terms. Molestus is known to have bitten Londoners during the Second World War whilst they were taking refuge during the air raids. However, there are other references to a mosquito with the same name, molestus, 170 years before the war, when there was no underground railway system in London or anywhere else in the world.

This mosquito was first discovered in the London Underground, which is why it got its name, but it can be discovered in metro and underground railway stations all over the world. No one really knows a lot concerning this insect species yet.

Some people suggest that it is a variant of a local Culex pipiens that has adapted to living in warmer, subterranean tunnels, whilst others say that is a southern (and therefore warmer) variant of C. pipiens that is able to live in the colder north because it has colonized the warm train tunnels of the underground systems.

Yet others, notably Kate Byrne and Richard Nichols, suggest that it is a totally different species from Culex pipiens. Their proof for saying this is that there are differences between pipiens and molestus: they display very different behavioural patterns and do not mate readily with each other.

C. pipiens molestus will bite rats, mice and humans and dies in cold temperatures but remains active all year round, whereas C. pipiens can tolerate cold weather, only bites birds and hibernates if the weather gets very cold.

On the rare occasions when the two varieties cross breed, the eggs are infertile, which implies that they are distantly related if at all. Recent studies suggest that molestus originated in one source but spread rapidly around the world, perhaps in freight.

Second-hand tyres have been blamed for spreading molestus around the world. There is a colossal international trade in second hand tyres and it is notoriously problematic to get all the water out of a tyre that has been left in the rain. Mosquitoes can breed in a minuscule amount of water, so this is a possibility.

There is a strange and not entirely explained twist to the story of the molestus, the American version of molestus pipiens still bites birds which leads some individuals to say that molestus is a separate species, but that it has formed a hybrid in America with pipiens.

This is fairly frightening, but quite possible, because the American pipiens can transmit human encephalitis caused by the West Nile virus, an eruption of which hit New York in 1999.

There is a lot more to find out concerning the London Underground mosquito, since the story is only just beginning to unfold. The true story will almost certainly come out of America where this new mosquito has proved to be the most dangerous.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

When someone takes a cholesterol blood test, there will normally be four numbers returned which refer to the levels of LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), triglycerides and total cholesterol. The GP will be looking to see if any of these statistics is significantly above the norm for your age and sex.

If they are rather high, then the physician will make one of two recommendations. First of all, the doctor ought to recommend lifestyle changes but if these fail then it is a lifetime of medication. Some individuals have cholesterol issues for genetic reasons and for these individuals, medication might be the only answer.

The most common lifestyle changes that are usually recommended are dietary alterations and exercise. If your readings are particularly high, you may have to take severe measures to lower your cholesterol levels quickly.

Regrettably, once people start taking anti-cholesterol tablets, they rarely come off them, so it is better to attempt other ways first of all. The predominant ways are decreasing dietary saturated fat and increasing the degree of exercise significantly.

Most individuals have an idea what cholesterol is and that it has two aspects, but not a lot of people know what triglycerides are. Triglyceride is also a sort of fat and if it is in profusion, it is a frequent indication that cholesterol is high as well, which means that it is an indicator of possible future heart disease.

The quickest manner of decreasing the levels of these fats in your blood is to stop eating saturated fats and trans fats. Red meats and full-fat dairy products are our main source of saturated fat. This means that if you would like to engage the emergency brake, give up eating junk food, steak, pork, cheese and cream and stop drinking milk. You ought to also cut out trans fats which are hydrogenated vegetable oils as used in some margarines, pastry and crisps.

Putting an immediate block on these foods will have an immediate and spectacular impact on your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. If you need a spread on your bread, try one of those that actually reduce cholesterol levels rather than raise them.

The best thing is to begin with breakfast. Forget anything fried; porridge is very beneficial for you as is wholemeal bread. You can have an occasional boiled, poached or scrambled egg, because it is a myth that eggs are perilous to the sufferer from high cholesterol.

Steak and pork have to be restricted to very occasional treats, yet chicken without skin is not very bad for you and fish is positively good. Try to boil, grill or steam food rather than fry it yet if you need to use oil, use olive oil.

Fresh fruit, vegetables and grains are great allies in the fight against high cholesterol, and so is exercise. Exercise does not have to be energetic, a half-hour’s walk in the morning and the evening will help a great deal. If you cannot find the motivation, adopt a dog.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diet. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

Mankind has to live with insects because we could not live without them. Insects are essential for clearing waste both human and natural, but occasionally they are a nuisance and that is when we have to carry out some local, temporary insect control. This is normally when insects make a nuisance of themselves within our personal space.

The most common causes of complaint are mosquitoes in the garden and ants in the house. Enjoying a drink and a chat in the backyard on a warm evening can be miserable if there are mosquitoes making constant attacks and it is a constant worry if you always have to protect yourself and your food from foraging ants.

So, what can you do in the manner of insect control? There are a number of methods of dealing with mosquitoes and it is best not to rely on only one course of action. Occasionally, mosquitoes are only a problem for a few days a year, but if they are a constant problem you have to do more.

The best method of control is prevention. Mosquitoes can breed in half-an-inch of water, so the first job is to eradicate their breeding grounds. Make certain that the drains, do actually drain away and that the gutters are not blocked. Then up-turn anything in the backyard that can hold water: flower pots, buckets, containers and boats etc or cover them over.

If you have a water feature put guppies or goldfish in it, because they like to eat mosquito larvae. This ought to almost solve your difficulty, but a few mosquitoes will still come in from next door, so as dusk approaches, hang one of those fly zappers near where you sit.

They have a black or ultraviolet light within an electrified coil and are very effective. Hang one roughly six or seven feet off the ground. Some devices claim to be able to clear half an acre of airspace.

Finally, on a very local level you can put insect repellent on your skin or / and clothes and have a tennis racquet style insect zapper for the one or two determined mosquitoes.

Ants will come into your home to live occasionally, but usually they have a nest outdoors but they have found a good, regular source of food in your house, so they have added it to their list of places to visit every day.

So, think about your house carefully, is it a bit grubby? Do you often leave food out? Do you do the cleaning up regularly and do you wipe the prep surfaces down often? A small sticky patch of sugary water can feed a host of ants all day, so your kitchen does have to be kept really clean.

If that is not the cause of their visits, you will have to find their nest. That is not a problem, merely follow a line of ants back to their nest which is probably a hole in the ground. Buy one of those poisons which kills by poisoning and by contact. Place some on a bit of tile of glass and leave it outside their nest.

The ants will consume it and die and get it on them and die. They will take it back inside and give it to the others who will die and they will get groomed by their comrades, who will also get it on them and die. This process usually takes a couple of weeks to a few months, but you will see a large drop in ant numbers within a week.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

The study of insects is known as entomology. Entomology is a sub-section of biology and is one of the oldest sciences. Man has studied the habits of insects, normally with a view to eradicating them, since the first plague of locusts landed on primitive farmers’ crops tens of thousands of years ago. However, entomology was not really recognized and learned as a science until the Sixteenth Century.

Entomology has had numerous famous devotees but the most famous was Charles Darwin. More recent entomologists are Karl von Frisch the Nobel Prize winner for medicine in 1973 and E. O. Wilson the two time Pulitzer prize winner.

Entomologists are also frequently credited with helping solve murders by studying the insects that are discovered on and in the dead body. This is very possible and not merely a trick used in Hollywood films.

The first thing to realise is that not all creepy crawlies are insects. For example, spiders are not insects, but many entomologists are not so strict and have an interest in arachnids (spiders), worms, slugs and snails.

All insects pass through several stages of life, but there are two sorts of insect development ‘simple metamorphosis’ and ‘complete metamorphosis’.

The first sort includes most beetles and bugs like bed bugs. They are born as eggs and hatch into larvae (nymphs), which, whilst not perfect copies of their parents do look a bit like them

The second sort are also born as eggs, also hatch into larvae, but they look nothing like their parents – so dissimilar in fact that if you do not know what they are, you could not imagine. The larva then grows into a pupa when it appears to become dormant, this is not the case though, there is plenty going on and when it comes out from the pupal stage it is unrecognizable. Butterflies are like this.

If you want to study insects, you have to focus because there are at least 1.3 million species of insects that we have discovered so far and there are plenty more to name and classify.

You would be forgiven for thinking that these unknown insects, worms, slugs and beetles et cetera are all in remotest Africa or in deep jungles, but last year a carnivorous slug was discovered in a backyard in the centre of Cardiff in the UK.

In order to study insects, you usually have to catch them without killing them. This means nets and traps. it is simple enough to get a butterfly net (or fishing net) and you can create your own pitfall traps for ground beetles. You will also need a good book to help you classify your find and a magnifying glass to be able to better see it.

One word of caution though: you may think that there are too many insects and that no one really cares about them, but this is not true. There are many insects in every country that are protected and you will be breaking the law by capturing them or hurting them, so the first thing to do is find out which ones you may study and which ones it is better to leave alone.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

The control of waste is an important part of cooking, which is part of household management. One of the first items to comprehend when contemplating waste is the difference between waste and refuse. Waste is the disposal of something that could have been eaten, whereas refuse is the disposal of something that could not have been consumed.

This is an vital difference, because there is little you can do about something like, say, egg shells, yet if you buy so many eggs that half of them go bad before you can eat them, it is a another question. Over purchasing is a problem, especially if you strive to do most of your shopping in one session.

The secret to wasting less is in experience and knowledge. For example, if beef rises above a certain cost an inexpert cook might choose to buy pork or lamb, yet the choice is not that easy, because there is much more inedible fat in pork and lamb than there is in lean beef.

After poor selection of products, the next biggest source of waste is selecting the wrong way of preparing or cooking the food. Peeling too thick or cooking at a very high heat are good examples of this problem.

A successful week’s menu ought to provide all the nutrients, vitamins and fibre that a person requires. We do not have to eat all vitamins and all nutrients each day, but there are some that we ought to eat each day and we ought to eat enough fibre each day too. This is not difficult to arrange. Experts recommend eating five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, yet maybe the skill comes in providing variety to prevent boredom.

Some individuals can accomplish this variation fairly intuitively, but for the rest of us there is another line of attack and it is known as planning. You can easily plan your meals for a week before you go shopping. Planning your meals like this will also save you money, because it discourages impulse purchasing. If you still have an issue with impulse buying, order your groceries through the Internet.

Two good tips for holding costs down yet for still providing variety were also largely ostracized in the Seventies and Eighties, but which are also experiencing a come-back now are: eating seasonal, local food and preparing three (or at least two) course meals.

Local seasonal ingredients are cheaper than stuff flown in from half-way around the world (or ought to be) and beginning dinner off with soup and a bread roll and finishing it with a dessert means that you do not have to eat so much of the second course, which is normally the most costly of the three courses.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several subjects, but is at present concerned with French dip sandwich recipes. If you want to know more or check out some special offers, please go to our website at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.

Everyone ought to know fundamental First Aid techniques, but it is especially important for those who participate in potentially more dangerous sports or activities such as hunting. There are all types of things that can happen to you while hunting.

Besides getting shot, you could cut yourself while skinning an animal, you could be attacked by an animal, you could fall and break a leg or you could suffer a routine heart attack that could have happened anywhere.

However, what makes all these accidents more dangerous when you are hunting is the likelihood that you will be located miles from anywhere whilst it occurs. There is no one to turn to except your companion. No ambulances, no doctors and no hospitals for tens of miles.

The first thing that everyone ought to know is CPR, which stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which is an emergency procedure consisting of external cardiac massage and artificial respiration. It is vital to know CPR techniques for everyone not merely hunters.

You can learn CPR at several local institutions including the hospital, the fire station, some schools, some scouting organizations and some other institutions like the Boys’ Brigade or the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade.

These institutions can usually teach you over CPR if you want, such as what to do in a crisis. There are certain procedures that are common to most if not all crisis situations. For example, the first rule is to always take care of yourself first. Then assess the situation and make the area safe for yourself and anyone who may come into it.

This might sound selfish, but you are no help to anyone if you permit yourself to become injured and the rescue services will be very cautious if the area is unsafe when they get there. Then either begin first aid procedures or call the rescue services depending on the situation.

Healthcare staff teach the ABC method of applying First Aid. ABC stands for ‘Airway, Breathing and Circulation’. So, first look in the mouth and at the throat. Look for and remove any blockages such as blood, dentures or foreign bodies.

Then check for breathing. If the patient has ceased breathing, endeavour to resuscitate him or her because the brain cannot survive longer than a couple of minutes without oxygen.

Next check the heart beat. If it has stopped endeavour to get it going again. If there is copious bleeding from a wound, try to staunch the bleeding by applying pressure to it through a clean cloth. Get help if there are a number of wounds but apply tourniquets to arms and legs that are bleeding badly. You can use a belt or stockings as make-shift tourniquets.

If the patient has experienced a serious fall, the first rule is not to move the person. You can cause serious injury to someone with broken bones by moving them. You can even cause paralysis, so if someone has fallen, enquire whether they can move their fingers and toes (a sign that the spine is probably undamaged) and then phone the rescue services.

Two of the best safety rules while going hunting, are to tell someone where you are going and never to go alone. If you hunt with the same person regularly, why not both go to a First Aid course together?

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is now involved with Oakley safety glasses. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Safety Glasses Bifocal

A substantial part of First Aid training can be applied to a wide spread of circumstances, but there are also particular situations where specialist information is necessary. This is fairly straightforward to understand, because a bump or a scrape can happen under any circumstances, but phenol poisoning would almost certainly only happen in an industrial mishap.

There is not much point in learning how to help victims of certain accidents if you are extremely unlikely to ever be able to apply that information. However, you ought to take advantage of each free or subsidized dedicated course that you are offered at work. The same can be stated for any pastime that you have, although you will almost certainly have to pay for the course yourself.

In this situation, I am thinking of swimmers, yachters, campers, hikers and people involved in sports or pastimes of that nature. After all, there is less point in knowing how to save a drowning person if your hobby is hiking or mountaineering. Knowing First Aid pointers in the wilderness is very helpful, but they are more likely to include, stroke, heart attack, broken bones and unconsciousness.

You are in essence on your own while you are in the outback or on a mountainside. If you are with a partner, all well and good, you are safer, but there is also two times the chance of an accident. However, there are more common reasons for concern than actual physical accidents.

Some of the far more common problems that happen whilst you are wandering in some wilderness or other are exhaustion, dehydration and insect bites. If you are walking in the winter or above the snow line, then there is also frostbite and hypothermia to take into account.

In general, there are also snake bites and bites from large animals to consider. Fractured bones due to a fall are fairly common, so if you are planning a trek into the wilderness, you actually do have to be ready, because, if your phone is receiving a signal and the battery is charged, it could still take hours for help to come to you.

If you have a penchant for wandering in the wilderness, the first thing to do is not go alone. Make certain that you go with someone who has more knowledge than yourself until you can honestly say that you are competent to lead someone else into a very perilous region where help is hours away by helicopter.

If you have studied how to go into the wilderness by partnering someone else, you ought to be all right. Another way of learning is to join the Scouts. Learning in this manner will give you lots of time to pick up tips on how to deal with exceptional situations.

Do not pretend that you are competent to lead someone else if you do not have the skill. Being stuck tens of miles from anywhere in the dark with a broken leg and no notion what to do is not going to impress anyone.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on numerous subjects, but is at present concerned with school first aid kits. If you have an interest in RC vehicles, please come over to our website now at First Aid Courses Online.

Cholesterol is a main contributing factor in causing heart attacks. However, our own bodies make cholesterol so it can not be all that bad. In fact, we need some cholesterol and apart from that there are two kinds, one of which is called ‘good cholesterol’ and the other as ‘bad cholesterol’.

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the ‘bad cholesterol and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the ‘good cholesterol’. Both are fatty, waxy substances made by the liver that float around the body in the blood. LDL levels can rise to the point that it can block blood vessels and interfere with the operation of the heart resulting in heart disease and heart attack. LDL comes mostly from the ingestion of saturated fats in red meat, full-fat milk, cheese and cream and from hydrogenated trans fats.

HDL assists clear out the LDL, so a diet that is good for cholesterol will endeavour to reduce the consumption of LDL-producing food and increase the consumption of HDL-producing food. In general, the foods that do this are fruits, vegetables, grains and fish. However, a high cholesterol level (bad cholesterol, that is) is more complex than just diet. It is also important to maintain a correct body weight and to exercise on a regular basis.

Having healthy levels of cholesterol is actually an on-going maintenance programme and has a lot to do with just living an active, healthy life. This means not eating a great deal of red meat, eating fish twice a week, consuming at least five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day, not over doing the dairy products, drinking skimmed milk (or none at all), cutting back on cheese and varying your diet and exercising every day, even if it is just in the fashion of going for a walk twice a day.

Although there can be genetic reasons for high cholesterol, most people can solve this problem quite easily by exercise and diet. Doctors say that cutting out all forms of saturated fat and trans fat is the single most valuable fashion of reducing your LDL cholesterol levels, so that is the obvious way to start. Grains and pulses are good because they contain so much fibre which is helpful for removing cholesterol.

This suggests that eating porridge in the morning instead of bacon and eggs and having some form of lentil soup with whole grain bread before dinner would be steps in the right direction. Snacks throughout the day and sweet at mealtimes ought to be fruit. Citrus fruits are particularly efficient at helping to remove cholesterol.

Other items of food that are thought to lower cholesterol are nuts like walnuts and almonds; onions and garlic; olive oil and soya bean products. Although cooking in olive oil will help a great deal, it is also a good idea to avoid frying whenever there is a possibility of cooking in another way. Grilling and steaming are the best methods of cooking most fish and vegetables and it helps retain the vitamin and nutrient content of the food too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on numerous subjects, but is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diet. If you want to know more, please visit our site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

In the late summer of 1999, there was an epidemic of encephalitis and meningitis in New York. To begin with, all the sufferers came from an eight square kilometer area centered on Queens and the Bronx.

Later, it spread further, although there were merely 59 cases and seven deaths – all in older individuals. 677 individuals were tested in the original survey, 19 of which tested positive for meningoencephalitis.

Going by the size of the population of New York, it was estimated that between 3,500 and 13,000 people (average: 8,200) had contracted West Nile virus. There were almost certainly a lot more than that, but serious indications usually only show in the young and the old.

Those in the in-between age group probably reckoned that they had a bad cold, which means that fewer than one percent of sufferers displayed severe neurological symptoms.

At first, it was wondered whether this outbreak could be the result of an act of terrorism, but others suspected mosquitoes. Investigation concentrated on St. Louis encephalitis. However, when it was thought to check for West Nile virus, the number of cases increased.

The reason for the outbreak was soon confirmed to be a West Nile-like virus based on the identification of viral infection in human, avian, and mosquito samples.

This had not been considered because the New York epidemic was the first time that West Nile virus had been seen in the West.

Then recent bird deaths were remembered. Substantial numbers of wild birds, especially crows, had passed away recently in the area and there were deaths at the Bronx Zoo of exotic birds too.

Examination of the corpses of these birds showed traces of encephalitis which resembled West Nile virus (WNV). When doctors knew what to look for, they discovered comparable traits in the brains of the dead humans

The authorities instantly initiated widespread measures to reduce the population of Culex pipiens, the mosquito in the region that specializes in attacking birds. The public was informed and helplines were set up – by the end of September more than 150,000 calls had been made.

The local authorities continued to spray and handed out 300,000 aerosols of DEET and 750,000 public health leaflets, which recommended cleaning up the backyard, not going out at dusk or dawn and covering up bare skin.

WNV is an arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus), which means that it is conveyed to humans by arthropods (insects), normally the tick or the mosquito. Previously, WNV had just been seen in Uganda, where it was first discovered and in isolated cases in Europe and South Africa.

A report concluded that it was “unclear whether the virus that caused this outbreak is a previously identified strain of WNV or a new variant”, however now recent proof appears to suggest that a new mosquito – a hybrid of C. pipiens – living in the New York metro was to blame.

This is still not definite, but if it is the case, then the whole world ought to take care, because the New York ‘hybrid’ is related to the London Underground mosquito which inhabits nearly every underground railway station on the planet.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several topics, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

Do you go to a local spa occasionally or are you thinking of pampering yourself in the near future? A massage or, even and a sauna makes a terrific difference to how you feel that day and that sensation can last a number of days. You feel livelier, invigorated, up for anything that the world can throw at you. Those are good enough reasons for going to your local spa once or twice a week on their own, |but I will give you five good reasons for buying a spa day package.

Firstly, spa day packages are carefully planned series of treatments designed to compliment each other. One package might be for your skin and pores another on precise beauty treatments like eyes, hair, hands and feet, while others might concentrate on cellulose, thighs and buttocks.

In short, if you take a spa day package, you can have a set of treatments to help resolve a difficulty that has been suggested by an expert. Rather than guessing what might be good for your precise condition yourself, a package will lead you down a well-trodden path which might include a traditional massage, massage with hot stones, aromatherapy, a facial, a herbal or mud wrap, hot towels, exfoliation or numerous other treatments.

Secondly, you will be able to decide on a package that suits what you would like. For example, if you are on your feet all day, you might want a spa day package that concentrates on sore feet. A full pedicure, in fact, including a foot massage with oils, nail treatment and a long soaking in a foot spa of herbal water.

Thirdly, there is a very good likelihood that the price of the spa day package will be a great deal less than the combined price of all he treatments if you were to buy them separately. In other words, spa day packages ought to be discounted and if you go with a friend or two, maybe you can ask for a further discount for a group booking. Who knows? If you do not ask, you do not get!

Fourthly, a day spa package is like a mini-holiday. Spending several hours in a relaxing atmosphere with specialists pampering you is a wonderful experience. Most people simply do not want to go away when they are getting towards the end of their day spa package.

Fifthly, not just that, but the experience is so good that it becomes addictive. You will want to go back again and either take the same set of treatments or try a different spa day package. Try it and see. A day spa package puts a whole new meaning to the phrase: ‘I am only popping out for a massage’.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with portable hot tubs spas. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Hot Springs Spa Parts

If you have a swimming pool, you have to be aware of the safety aspects regarding that pool. There is no counter-argument, that is one of the legal responsibilities of an owner of a swimming pool . You are going to get people coming around who cannot swim; guests who have eaten or drunken too much and should not swim; children and skinny-dipping teenage intruders and you have to supply a safe environment in which to swim for all or them or decline access.

The first area of swimming pool safety to tackle is the denial of access and the easiest way of doing this is the assembly of a security fence. It will deny access to passing children, interlopers and friends who came around to see you on the off-chance when you were not in.

There are thousands of drownings by misadventure in backyard swimming pools every year – most of them are children and drunks, who would still be alive today, if the pool had been locked up.

If you have your own children who cannot swim, get them taught as soon as you can and drill some safety routines into them. For example, they must never get in the pool without an adult supervising them and they must always wear flotation devices, which means that you should always have flotation devices on hand.

You will require waist rings, arm bands and life jackets. Those for use in a swimming pool by children are not costly and can be inflatable. It is also a good idea to have some pieces of styrofoam floating about just in case someone gets tired unexpectedly.

Make sure that there is always a capable swimmer on hand who knows basic First Aid, especially artificial respiration with particular reference to drowning. In fact, why not take the whole family down to the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade and all get your life-savers certificate? The least you should have is a proper life belt – ocean-going – on a rope that is long enough to reach anywhere in your pool and tie off the loose end.

It might be possible to get away with not having a security fence, if you use an above ground swimming pool, but you will have to check with the local authorities on that one. You will also have to take away the access ladders when it is not in use. Forgetting to do so could equate to criminal negligence if anyone were to drown in your pool.

Swimming pool safety is primarily about saving lives but it is also about the peace of mind of the owner of the swimming pool. If someone were to drown in your pool and you knew that you had not done everything within your power to prevent it, you would almost certainly carry that burden of guilt with you for the rest of your life, especially if it was a child and even more so if it was your child or the child of one of your guests.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on various topics, but is now involved with Plus Size Bikinis. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Swimwear for Big Busts.

Narcolepsy is a quite rare sleep disorder, which causes sufferers to fall asleep at any moment of the day whether they are weary or not. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder, meaning that the brain sends orders to the body that it is exhausted and ought to go to sleep right away and the body obeys no matter what it is doing.

Attacks of narcolepsy most often occur when the sufferer is doing something quiet, like watching TV or reading, but it can also occur when eating or driving, which is obviously extremely dangerous. Some people fall asleep in the middle of a chat or at work in the middle of a piece or work.

As with some other disorders like restless leg syndrome and sleep apnoea and even snoring, it is not normally the sufferer that is first aware that he or she has a problem. Very frequently a spouse or colleague is the first to alert them to their condition and frequently it take quite a while before they will accept it and even longer before they do anything about it.

There are five symptoms of narcolepsy, but not all sufferers will suffer all five of them: daytime tiredness, broken sleep patterns (a form of insomnia), sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations and cataplexy. If you have any of these symptoms, you ought to get yourself checked out, in case you also fall asleep at the wheel or whilst carrying out a dangerous manouevre at work.

The first and most noticeable symptom is daytime drowsiness. Sufferers of narcolepsy might have the irresistible urge to go to sleep during the day five or six times or more. Narcoleptics call these ‘sleep attacks’ and say that they last for from five to ten minutes every.

Broken sleep patterns are not a ideal means by which to judge as many people suffer from insomnia for other reasons too.

Around half the sufferers of narcolepsy experience sleep paralysis, which is when the sufferer can neither talk nor move for a number of minutes slightly before falling asleep and slightly after waking up. It can be very scary for the narcoleptic and the family.

About the same percentage suffer from cataplexy, which is the loss of muscle control while awake. The bouts of cataplexy take place usually for brief periods of time during episodes of great emotion. For instance, whilst the sufferer is very angry, very glad or very emotional. Sometimes, the sufferer falls down and goes limp – it looks as if they have dropped asleep, but| they are totally awake and fully conscious.

A hypnagogic hallucination happens just before sleeping or and slightly after waking up and involves seeing incredibly vivid images or and hearing incredibly lifelike sounds.

These experiences are often accompanied by sleep paralysis and most sufferers find them very alarming. Usually, the sufferer cannot tell the difference between this hallucination and reality during a bout.

There are other symptoms which transpire occasionally such as migraine or headaches and ‘automatic actions’ which are not quite right, like putting books away in the fridge or writing off the edge of a page. Narcolepsy can be treated with pills.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is now involved with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. If you want to know more, please go to our website at Sleep Apnea Surgery Techniques

There is nothing per se wrong with following a vegetarian regime if you are expecting a baby. Whether you were a vegetarian before you became pregnant or you have decided to become a vegetarian now that you are pregnant, the issue is the same as that for all mothers-to-be: namely, to make sure that you and the baby get all the vitamins and nutrients that you both need.

This is a somewhat harder quest if you are only beginning down the vegetarian road because of your lack of information, yet it is not that hard. There is so much knowledge on the Net and in books now, and the doctors will be monitoring you, so you should not miss out on anything you both require.

Your baby will have to grow a few pounds of bones, so calcium is one of your foremost priorities yet it is also one of the nutrients that a non-vegetarian can leave meat to provide. If you are at the level of being a vegetarian where you eat meals of meat and three veg but without the meat, you must have a major rethink, and you could take supplements and eat tofu, broccoli and other dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and cabbage.

Vitamin D is easy, but you do need a frequent supply of it. Our skin synthesizes Vitamin D from sunlight, so you have to go out in the sun for half an hour a day or more. However, it is no good going out in the midday sun with sunblock on.

It is better to go outside in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is less expected to burn you. It does not even have to be bright sunlight for your body to make Vitamin D.

Vitamin B12 is abundant in red meat, yet hardly present at all in plants. However, there are a few vegetable sources of vitamin B12: soya (tofu) is one of them and vitamin-enhanced vegetarian products (usually cereals) are another.

Even so, you will almost certainly have to take supplements to acquire enough vitamin B12 for an expectant mother. Fortunately, your doctor will be keeping an eye on your Vitamin B12 intake and he or she will be able to counsel you.

You will also need lots of iron, which is also plentiful in meat, and also in many vegetables. You have to have iron to keep your blood in decent shape and a lack of iron shows up as aenemia.

Again, dark green, leafy vegetables are the order of the day here as are beans, seeds and nuts. However, due to the quantity of iron that you will require, you might need supplements for this one too.

You require protein. A normal diet gets protein from dairy products like milk and cheese; from eggs and from meat and fish. You may or you may not be eating some of those products, but if you are not then you will need to derive your protein from somewhere else. Tofu is a decent source of vegetable protein, but vegetable protein is a pretty difficult one to find if you do not like tofu.

You will need zinc which again is abundant in meat. If you are looking for a vegetable source there are lots in the form of grains – all the different sorts of grains including those used for bread,

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, and is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diets. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com

Whether you are trying to reduce your high blood pressure or whether you are trying to stave of getting high blood pressure, there are a couple of things that you can do. However, just like giving up smoking or drinking, it means lifestyle alterations which are always very hard to instigate. Essentially, safely lowering high blood pressure means exercise, diet and altering behavior.

This piece will give tips for safely lowering high blood pressure, none of which present any risk to you unless I mention them in this piece.

The first thing to do, if you are worried about your blood pressure (BP), is to buy a BP monitor. They are not expensive and they are very comforting. Of course, you can go to your GP to have your BP checked, yet there are reasons why this approach is not accurate.

For instance, there is something known as the ‘white coat effect’, which means that people who are made uneasy by doctors can show a 25-50 point higher reading than is the actual case. However, you ought to take your BP monitor to your GP to compare it with the one there.

Once you know what your BP ought to be for your age and you have the means to get an accurate measurement of your BP, you are in a position to verify your progress in reducing it.

The first thing to do is regulate your weight. In order to do this, you will probably need to lose weight and to do this there are two tactics, both of which you should take. The first is exercise and the second is diet. The exercise constituent does not have to be strenuous – my physician told me to walk thirty minutes every morning and every evening.

The diet part is the solitary piece of advice I will give that needs checking with your GP. Sodium or table salt is definitely linked to water retention, weight and high blood pressure. However, giving up salt can be perilous if you have certain complications (especially thyroid) or if you live in a hot country. Therefore, confirm the salt diet with your Doctor.

If you smoke or drink alcohol to excess that will increase your BP. Perhaps it never did while you were younger, but as your body gets older, it certainly will. Smoking and drinking to excess frequently will raise your BP. No question about it.

Cut down on heavy foods like fatty meat. Not stop, but strive to substitute more fresh vegetables and fruit. This can be integrated into your diet easily enough.

Mood has an effect on your BP, so try to stay calm. This may mean taking up relaxation techniques such as meditation or yoga, but it could also merely mean watching a film, going for a walk or listening to some classical music.

Swimming is very relaxing for me and lots of others as well. It is a means of relaxing but fighting the flab at the same time. Furthermore, coupled with some of the other suggestions for safely lowering high blood pressure may help keep you off medication for the remainder of your life.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with work on high blood pressure charts. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at High Blood Pressure Recipes.

I live in a nation where fathers are proud that their children can ride a motorcycle at eight years of age. When the beaming parent boasts about this, I always ask of the cost of insuring such a young driver but the Thai answer is to smile. Their children are not insured but if they get into an accident, they simply hope that it will not be a bad one.

However, we all know that lots of motorcycle accidents are serious and that most of those concerned in motorcycle accidents are young people. Why would someone, a parent even, allow a child to ride a motorcycle without insurance? It is beyond me, but then, I am not a parent. I just think that it is irresponsible.

So, the first thing that a motorcyclist should do is take a course – a motorcyclists’ safety course, yet even that will not be useful to someone who does not have or cannot buy insurance. However, it is a very responsible thing to do to undertake a motorcyclists’ safety course, because you will be taught how to dress in safe clothing and how to steer clear of perilous situations.

The first thing to find out concerning a motorcyclists’ safety course is what it will teach you and whether you will be given a certificate for completing it. It is also helpful to know whether having such a certificate will entitle you to a discount on your insurance premium. It could well do, which will more than compensate the price of the course during your lifetime – hopefully.

A good motorcyclists’ safety course ought to teach about the components of a motorcycle, what you can reasonably expect from them and why. It would also teach you basic motorcycle maintenance and repair. After that, it ought to teach you driving skills and how to sidestep accidents.

Wearing the correct safety clothing at all times is another requirement of a good motorcyclists’ safety course. You have to realize why doing something or wearing something is important. And in essence, it is important because it can save your life and avert accidents, which can save other peoples’ lives as well.

It is mostly teenagers who ride motorcycles and teenagers are not well-known for acting sensibly, so as a parent or a responsible teenager make sure you find out about motorcyclists’ safety course in your neighborhood.

The Net is the obvious location to start looking for a motorcyclists’ safety course, but if you are all at sea, then the local authorities, the local police station or the local accident prevention bureau will be able to put you on the right track and so may the local library.

You know that it makes sense so only do it, if not to keep your own child out of danger, then so that he or she does run me down whilst I am out strolling with my wife and my dog.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with Safety Glasses USA. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Safety Glasses Bifocal

Safety in the workplace is a big topic, but when one is working with glass, it becomes a very big issue. The crafts person or artisan who works with stained glass has particular dangers to be conscious of. As we all know, glass can be sharp, and if you cut glass the dust is very perilous and old stained glass can contain dangerous chemicals for pigmentation and lead to hold the pieces together.

The first bit of advice is never to take young children to a stained glass workplace. This is because of the risk of them cutting themselves on broken glass and inhaling the powder of dangerous chemicals. So, if the children are involved with choosing a design, take the catalogue to them in the car, do not take them to the workshop.

If you need to carry a sheet of stained glass to the car for self-installation, wear gloves that have rubberized surfaces so that you can get a decent grip without having to grip the sheet of glass tight. Grip the sheet of glass by the side edges if you possibly can. If you hold it top and bottom ant it breaks, the arm at the bottom might get hit by falling, jagged glass.

If you are working with stained glass at home as a hobby, make certain that your environment is spotless. It is usually easier to score and break glass on a soft surface like a bed sheet. A blanket is too thick and gives too much, which may cause the glass to break in a manner that is unwanted.

While cutting glass, always wear a mask and safety glasses. or even safety goggles for improved protection. This is especially the case if you would like to cut the glass with an angle grinder. The glass dust created by a grinder is very dangerous.

While you are soldering the lead strips to hold the fragments of stained glass in position, make sure that you follow safety procedures with the soldering iron. Put it into a holder, so that when you reach for the soldering iron, you can only seize it by the cool handle with no chance of you being able to grasp it by the hot end.

Solder fumes are not good for you, so be certain that your workshop is well ventilated with extractor fans. Wear gloves too so that your skin does not suffer from repeated contact with poisonous lead. If you have a cut or a wound, put a plaster on it so that the lead does not get into you too easily.

If you do not have a workplace or even a garden shed, do not be tempted to do the work in your home, because the fumes and the glass dust will build up and you will never actually get rid of them. The powder and fumes are significant pollutants and will build up in fabrics, so if you have curtains in your workplace, wash them regularly and vacuum everywhere at least one time a week.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, yet is now involved with RX Safety Glasses. If you would like to know more, go to our website at Safety Glasses Bifocal

Children often copy what they see. They are good learners and they are programmed to be just that. Once they can walk and talk they have roughly ten years to learn as much as they can before being given a lot of freedom to walk the world alone. This differs from country to country and from century to century, but the principle is the same.

Although most children are fairly heavily supervised during these ten years, a lot of children do spend a bit of time alone or only in the company of only other children. This means that it is a great concept to teach children some emergency measures. In the early days, First Aid training for kids could be as simple as teaching them to phone the emergency number if they see or get into trouble.

Thirty years ago while I was living in the Netherlands, I witnessed an attempted suicide by overdose. My friend was giving CPR and he asked me to go to the phone booth and call the ambulance. I went but once I got there, 999 (the UK emergency number did not do anything). I looked about in the phone box but could not see an emergency number although my Dutch was fluent. I had to go outside and stop a passer-by to enquire. I wasted minutes and he died.

Before a child goes off to school at five or six, children should know the basics like: the emergency number, not to talk to strangers, not to get into anyone’s car, that blood is dangerous and needs to be treated and that bones break, so to take care when running about. Anything else would be a bonus.

You could also make a First Aid kit with your child. You could sit down, discuss the contents of a functional, personal First Aid kit and then take your child to a pharmacy to purchase the odds and ends. When back home, you could discuss how to use the contents, pack them into a box and place that in the child’s school bag.

Get into the routine of going through the contents of the kit with your child to replace used and out-of-date items. This is also useful for reinforcing what the things are used for.

A First Aid kit for a school beginner could include soap, disposable gloves, plasters, iodine, calamine lotion, sunblock, a couple of small coins for the telephone and a card with your address and phone number on it..

Afterwards, as the years go by, you could add paracetamol, bandages, scissors, tweezers, matches and anything else you think is crucial.

You could extend the list of telephone numbers to include a trusted neighbour or grandparent in case you are engaged and maybe the head teacher at school as well. You could hold a short quiz from time to time in the guise of a game to make certain that your child knows what everything is for and who to phone.

Once your child gets to eight or nine, enroll him or her into the scouts, guides or a paramedical organization such as the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade to continue the First Aid training for kids.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on numerous subjects, but is currently concerned with First Aid trainer courses. If you have an interest in RC vehicles, please come over to our website now at First Aid Courses Online.

Ringworm is fairly common in cats, particularly those that are not groomed or looked after well enough. However, even the most cared-for cats can get ringworm because it is so contagious.

However, ringworm is not caused by a worm. Sorry, for telling you how to suck eggs, if you already knew that, but a lot of owners do not.

Ringworm is really a fungus known as dermatophytosis and is highly infectious for most animals including humans. Cats frequently pass it on to each other while rubbing and pass it onto humans during grooming or stroking.

Not just that, but when you have the infection on your hands, you might get ringworm on your body wherever you touch yourself or you may pass it onto someone else, another cat or your dog.

If you spot the tell-tale catherine-wheel shaped mark on your cat, you should take it to the vet immediately for treatment.

Similarly, if you or your kids pick up the infection, you must see a medical doctor or dermatologist. You should see an improvement in a couple days and complete recovery within a week or so, although treatment may go on for a fortnight to make sure complete recovery.

Occasionally, you may not see the ring-like mark, but if your cat or child is itching or scratching in one spot and there are no fleas, assume ringworm. Being a fungus, spores will drop off the host all over the house and might even get blown around in the aircon system. This could easily infect each living thing in the house, so it is horrible.

Therefore, if you think that something is wrong, but you cannot explain it, suspect ringworm, be on the look out for the signs and see to it as soon as it reveals itself.

When you have your cat on your lap, inspect it for signs of ringworm. These are very frequently on the head, where it has nuzzled another cat.

Look around the eyes, the ears and on the paws for bald spots, the ring mark or just red, flakey dry skin. The cat may lick it or scratch the spot frequently and there may be dandruff.

The first thing to do is don gloves and search the cat for fleas. If you do not see a large infestation of fleas, your cat probably has ringworm so get it to the vet as soon as possible.

In the meanwhile, isolate it from your children and do not touch the patch, although it might already be too late.

The treatment for ringworm in cats is fairly simple. It normally involves bathing your cat every other day and applying anti-fungal cream once or two times a day to the infected patches wearing rubber gloves.

Applying the cream is not difficult, but a large number of cats actually hate being bathed, so this could be a problem. If your cat hates water, put it in a pillow case and fasten it at its throat with an old flea collar. This ought to prevent the cat from clawing you and running away.

A comparable treatment should be undergone by every member of the family, but you will only exchange your regular soap and shampoo for an anti-fungal one for a fortnight.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, but is now involved with feline distemper vaccination. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Distemper Vaccines

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with feline distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Distemper Vaccines

Nowadays lots of individuals in their Forties and Fifties are being told that they have high blood pressure and that unless they make major lifestyle changes soon, then they will have to take blood pressure tablets for the remainder of their lives. The fact is, that once your body gets used to these tablets it is very hard to get off them.

Therefore, if you have been given this warning, take it seriously. The doctor’s advice can take different forms, but it usually encompasses: lose weight; stop smoking and drinking; take more exercise and eat less salt.

In the spirit of this latter piece of advice, I have put three low sodium soup recipes from three different countries in this piece. I hope you enjoy them.

Recipe One: Germany

Two Bean Soup (Zwei Bohnensuppe) (Serves Four)

1 1/4 cups white beans, dry 1 cup cut green beans 1 green onion, diced 1 potato, peeled & diced 2 tbls unbleached flour

Garnish =================== 4 oz ham, chopped 1/4 cup celery,chopped 1 onion, yellow, diced 1 tbls unsalted butter (optional) 3/4 cup beef broth, unsalted 1/4 tsp pepper 1 parsley, sprig

The beans can be either fresh or frozen, but do not use canned. Boil the beans until softish; add the potato and continue to boil. Add the flour to thicken when the potato is soft. Stir well. Serve in bowls and then add the garnish. Crispy bread is a good accompaniment.

Recipe Two: Ireland

Sorrel Soup (Serves Eight)

1 lb Sorrel 3 oz unsalted butter (or margarine) 1 large onion, chopped 2 tbsp flour (heaped) 2 1/2 l stock 2 tbsp breadcrumbs 1 pepper 2 egg yolks 150 ml cream

Wash the sorrel well and chop it up. Heat the butter or margarine in a saucepan and merely soften the sorrel and onion in it. Shake the flour on to the vegetables and blend well. Let it cook for about 1 minute. Meanwhile bring the stock to the boil, then add to the pan. Add the breadcrumbs, add pepper to taste, and bring to the boil, then simmer for around 1 hour covered. (It can get liquidized at this stage, if liked). Beat the egg yolks with the cream and add a little of the hot soup to the mixture, stirring well; then add slowly to the soup pot, mixing well over the heat, being careful not to let it boil.

Recipe Three: Russia

Borsch (Serves eight)

1 cup navy beans, dried 2 1/2 lb beef, lean 1/2 lb slab bacon 10 cups cold water 1 bay leaf 8 whole peppercorns 2 cloves garlic 2 tblsp parsley, dried 1 carrot 1 celery stalk 1 red onion, big, chopped 1 tsp salt (optional) 8 beetroots for soup 2 beetroots, small 2 cups green cabbage, shredded 2 leeks, big, sliced 3 potatoes, cut into eighths 1 can (1 lb 13 oz) tomatoes 1 tbspn tomato paste 3 tbspn red wine vinegar 1 lb kielbasa (optional) 2 tbspn flour 1 tbspn butter, melted 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

Cover beans with water and permit to soak overnight; cook until tender; drain; set aside. Place beef, bacon and water in large soup pot; bring to the boil. Skim fat from surface. Add bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, parsley, carrot, celery, onion. Cover and simmer on a low heat for around 1 1/2 hours.

Scrub beetroots for soup and cook in boiling water until soft, around 45 minutes; drain and dispose of water; cool. Peel and cut each beetroot into eighths. Scrub small beetroots; grate; cover with water and soak.

Remove meat from soup; lay aside. Strain soup into another pot and add cooked beetroot, cabbage, leeks, potatoes, tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, beef and bacon.

Return to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Cut kielbasa into pieces and add with navy beans to soup. Simmer 20 minutes longer. Blend flour and butter together to make a paste. Stir into soup to thicken slightly. Strain raw beets, saving liquid yet discarding beetroots. Add beetroot liquid to soup.

Additional sugar or vinegar may be added for a sweeter or sourer flavour. Slice meat and place in individual soup bowls. Pour hot soup with vegetables on to meat. Garnish each serving with a spoonful of sour cream, if preferred.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several of subjects, but is currently involved with work on high blood pressure charts. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, just go to our site at High Blood Pressure Recipes.

It is compulsory in most Western countries for employers to provide safety glasses or safety goggles and it is obligatory for employees to wear them when instructed to. It has been established that wearing safety glasses at work significantly reduces the number of accidents and accidents are costly.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported that eye injuries cost US firms about $467 million each and every year, so a few dozen pairs of safety glasses would definitely recoup their price. However, it is also important to use safety glasses that were designed to protect the eyes of wearers in specific professions.

One of the worries with safety glasses is that they fog up. This means that employees often have to take off their glasses to de-mist them, which lessens the efficiency of the glasses. Stopping fogging or misting is a major problem for makers of safety glasses.

The reason for of fogging is a lack of air flow. This is normally only a difficulty with goggles, because they tend to have a tighter fit so they become warmer, which vaporizes any moisture created by the eyes or by perspiration. It can also be caused by a low background temperature.

Consequently the first step towards solving the problem of fogging or misting in safety glasses is to find out where and why it happens. Fogging will generally occur when the worker moves from a hot region to a cold one, in hot humid zones or where the employee’s body temperature is higher than the ambient temperature.

The first approach ought to be to opt for lenses that will deal with those environments or conditions. Lenses can be coated with anti-fogging or anti-misting coatings. These coatings are applied at the time of manufacture and ought to last the lifetime of the safety glasses.

These coatings will prevent the build up of water droplets on the lenses permitting clear vision. There are other coatings that can be applied too, so it is a question of seeing what types of coatings are obtainable from your supplier.

It is worth bearing in mind that not all anti-fog coatings are effectual under all the conditions where fogging can occur, so you should be precise when explaining to your supplier why you need anti-fog lenses.

If someone has to enter an area where fogging often occurs, supplying an anti-fog fabric to wipe over their lenses is a short term fix. These cloths are safe to use on most lenses, so it is wise to enquire. The effects ought to continue for a number of hours.

If personnel move from one zone to another and have to change their safety glasses from zone to zone, they should be shown how to recognize safety glasses with the special coatings. Lenses that have been treated at the factory with an anti fog coating are often stamped with the letters ‘AF’.

It is worth learning how to deal with fogged safety glasses, because it can save a great deal of frustration, misery and money, if you simply spend a little time procuring the correct safety equipment.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with Uvex Safety Glasses. If you would like to know more, please visit our site at Safety Glasses Bifocal

The actual order that the numbers involved in a blood pressure reading are given is systolic over diastolic. The systolic pressure is higher, because it is the reading taken whilst the heart actually pumps or beats and the diastolic pressure is lower because it is taken when the heart sucks in a fresh quantity of blood to pump around.

There are rough figures that doctors quote as ‘standard’, yet there is no clear, definitive consensus what these numbers are. In the west, most authorities will say that any reading under 120/80 is good. However, there are numerous medical professionals who will say that 140/80 does not require treatment, other than to lose a few pounds, if you are over weight.

This makes it very difficult for the unqualified person to ascertain for him or herself, whether his or her blood pressure is acceptable or not. Blood pressure monitors are very reassuring, very accurate yet not expensive these days, but how can you interpret the data they give you, if not every medical professional has the same opinion?

Perhaps the only way to get the most sense of this data is to go along to your general practitioner with your blood pressure monitor and talk about its findings with your doctor. Your doctor can use his or her sophisticated device and check it with yours then your doctor can give you a few figures that can be expected for someone like you.

I say this because there are a number of things that can affect blood pressure. In fact, actual blood pressure changes with every beat of the heart, so your blood pressure can be different every time you take it, which is why a BP monitor takes the average (or the maximum) over, say, a two minute period.

Factors that can (and often do) have an effect on blood pressure are:

The ‘White Coat Effect’: some individuals’ BP soars by as much as 25-50 points when they go into a doctor’s surgery. This could be anxiety or it could be fear of doctors, and it is a documented difficulty.

Mood: fear, anger, depression and anxiety can upset your blood pressure.

Age: your age has a bearing on your BP.

Weather: the temperature and the humidity affects BP

Stress: stress, restlessness, lack of sleep and tiredness can affect the levels of your blood pressure.

Diet: which foodstuffs and beverages you have recently consumed have an impact as do whether you are constipated or merely ‘full’.

Smoking: smoking and drinking alcohol affect blood pressure.

Exercise: your physical condition, your metabolism and the amount of exercise you take are also reasons.

Time of the Day: for all the above reasons and more, the time of the day that you take the reading has an impact, which is why it is a good idea to have your own blood pressure monitor at home. Then you can measure your BP at definite times of the day and compare the results with the hoped for levels of diastolic and systolic blood pressure given you by your physician.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on a number of topics, but is currently involved with work on high blood pressure charts. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, just go to our site at High Blood Pressure Recipes.

There is plenty of cause to believe that all adults should keep one eye on their cholesterol levels. In early life, the body can deal with a bit of abuse, yet as we get older our bodies get less able to deal with the junk we give it. Furthermore, younger people are normally more lively than older people and exercise is a way of lowering cholesterol.

It is worth having your cholesterol levels tested at various stages of your life, because some people have genetic problems that result in too much cholesterol and it is worth knowing if you fall into this group as early as possible.

Before you begin working on your cholesterol you ought to know what they are. So, get your numbers and ask your doctor for an opinion. He or she might say that they are all right, that they are on the high side or that you had better do something about them immediately. Make certain that you make a note of these numbers which will be for your HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels.

Once you have these reference points and your medical doctor’s opinion you can decide on what action to take. In this article, we will talk about the three most helpful ways of decreasing your LDL level of cholesterol.

1] The most effective thing you can do to lower your LDL cholesterol is to reduce the amount of saturated fat and trans fat that you eat. People get most of their bad cholesterol from these two fats by a long chalk. Saturated fat comes from animal fat but particularly from red meat and full fat dairy products like milk, cream and cheese. Trans fats are hydrogenated fats, which are vegetable fats which have been ‘liquidized’ with water.

Merely cutting out these two sorts of fat may be sufficient to save you from taking medication for the remainder of your life. However, every body requires fat, so in addition to cutting these harmful fats out, you will have to replace some of them with mono-unsaturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats. These words are listed on products in a lot of countries.

In essence, it means cooking with olive oil and spreading better margarine on your bread. In fact there are even margarines and salad dressings now that actually lower cholesterol in their own right.

2] The second way to keep your cholesterol levels under control is exercise. Exercise burns up your LDL cholesterol. You do not have to do a lot to make a big difference. Hiking thirty minutes each morning and each evening can have quite a remarkable effect on your health particularly if you do not exercise at all at the moment.

3] The third most effective method of keeping your cholesterol levels correct is to maintain a good body weight. As you can see, by following a sensible diet and doing regular exercise, you will of necessity find your correct body weight. The whole system is really telling you that if you have a problem with cholesterol, then you are not living properly.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diet. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

If you have recently been told that your cholesterol levels are out, you will probably be weighing up the options that your GP gave you. One option would be to take tablets and the other option would be to modify your diet and carry out more exercise. The alterations in diet are not radical, yet they could have a big impact. Exercising may be more of a difficulty to most individuals who lead a sedentary lifestyle.

People talk about cholesterol levels because there are two types of cholesterol. The two levels are HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol). LDL comes from animal fats (saturated fats), which are prevalent in red meat and full-fat dairy products like milk, butter, cream and cheese but it also is present in hydrogenated trans fats, which are common in margarines, pastry and crisps.

The first thing to do is strive to cut out saturated fats by changing to chicken and drinking low-fat milk. You could also replace the margarine or butter with one of the cholesterol-reducing margarines in the supermarkets. Just taking these two steps will make a huge difference to many individuals, however, others might have to go a little further.

Grains are very useful in the battle against cholesterol, because of the amount of fibre in them. Therefore, you could give up your traditional English breakfast of cereals with milk followed by sausage, bacon, eggs and fried bread and instead eat Scots porridge oats with water or skimmed milk followed by wholemeal toast and cholesterol-reducing margarine. This step alone will also significantly modify your cholesterol levels.

If you like a steak for lunch sometimes, you might not have to give it up completely, but if you usually order an eight ounce steak, order a four or six ounce one instead and if you have that four times a week, cut back to two instead. Replace the steak with meals of skinless chicken and fish. Omega 3 fish oil is considered to be a big ally in the fight against cholesterol.

If you eat a lot of junk food like greasy hamburgers and oily hot dogs, you will almost certainly have to give them up, but that is not a bad thing anyway. Strive to snack on citrus fruits as they are also your allies against LDL cholesterol.

It is not all doom and gloom on the dietary front for sufferers of cholesterol issues. The alterations that will be recommended to you to sort out your cholesterol problems have almost certainly already been made to you to sort out being over weight or having high blood pressure or even suffering from diabetes.

They are fundamental, sensible minor lifestyle changes which will have a enormous effect on a number of aspects of your body. The same is true of exercise. Most people know that they should exercise more, it is just a shame that most of us need such a significant incentive before we do anything about it.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diet. If you want to know more, please visit our site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

Most people have a nebulous concept that eating meat is bad for you and that eating vegetables will stop you from developing some serious diseases such as cancer. Not everybody believes this, but still there is an under current or popular belief that it is so.

It absolutely is the case that you will consume less animal fat if you become a vegetarian. However, even vegetarians normally eat some animal fats when they eat shop-bought cakes or meals in restaurants. There are in essence two schools of ideology on dietary fat.

The traditional view is that reducing saturated fats is good for you yet there is the Atkins Diet idea that saturated fats will not hurt you yet carbohydrates will. Regrettably, the average guy in the street who does not have a medical level of knowledge just has to go with his or her best judgment and hope for the best. After all, if the specialists can not agree on what is healthy and what is bad for us, what prospect do we have of knowing?

It is almost certainly fairly accurate that eating less saturated fat and eating more fibre-rich vegetables and fruit is a good concept, yet there is no real necessity to cut out meat all together. Some studies in Europe have suggested that vegetarians are up to 40% less probable to develop cancer than meat-eaters.

Additionally, studies into breast cancer rates all over the world imply that there is less breast cancer in countries where they eat less meat like China and other eastern countries, whereas in Japan, where the American presence has meant that more people eat a la American, the incidence of breast cancer is eight times higher.

This has a tendency to indicate that the American diet of lots of saturated fat and processed meat like hamburgers and hot dogs is responsible for higher rates of cancer.

It is also said that meat and dairy products contribute to the development of a number of types of cancer including breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers. Colon cancer seems to be the most affected by a high consumption of meat and dairy with one report stating that it can raise the risk by an enormous 300%.

One recognized difficulty for adults with drinking milk is that it can raise the body’s amount of oestrogen which is the ‘female’ hormone. This can produce breasts in overweight men and arise the risk of breast cancer in both sexes.

It has been reported that one study into cancer in premenopausal women showed that those who ate meat had a thirty-odd percent more risk of developing cancer. Eating dairy products has been linked with ovarian cancer, because it seems that breaking down lactose damages the ovaries in some way.

There is a similar trend in men. Men who eat meat every day have a higher danger of prostate cancer, some say up to three times as high and drinking milk might double the danger as well. Those men who do not eat vegetables at all or very occasionally quadruple their chances of prostate cancer.

It is very difficult to know what to do, because various studies by different bodies reveal different findings. If you do not know who to follow, it seems best to strive to follow a balanced diet in which fruit and vegetables make up the majority of the bulk and calories.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

The most costly aspect of having a swimming pool is the construction of it. Maintenance is also expensive. Therefore, those who have garden swimming pools usually strive to get as many hours of use out it as they can. This means sitting in the garden at the poolside whenever possible and inviting friends and family around to share it all with them.

However, there is one more thing that you can do to increase the number of hours you can spend in your pool – you can extend the season that you are able to use it in. The temperature of the water is the only real restriction on swimming outdoors, it does not really matter whether it is snowing or raining as long as the water is warm enough.

Swimming in the rain, the mist and the snow is actually great fun, at least as much fun as swimming in the sunshine, as long as the water is warm enough and there is no lightening. The answer is to fit a water heater into your swimming pool system.

A swimming pool water heater can have a drastic impact on the amount of time you can spend in your pool. If you set the thermostat at 78-80 F (about 25 C), you can double the amount of time you can spend in the water. If you live in a warm part of the country, you might just require to heat the water by a few degrees to be able swim in comfort.

A large body of heated water will lose most of its heat through its surface area, so it is a good concept to cover your pool with a decent quality insulation blanket-cum-pool cover. The insulated pool blankets will reduce your heating bills quite significantly and it will raise the level of pool safety considerably too.

The most common systems for heating swimming pool water are liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or oil fired. These systems are simple to set up and relatively cheap to run. Electricity is also used, but it is not economical. If you live in the correct area meaning that you only require to raise the water temperature a few degrees, you could use solar power.

The problem with solar power is the profit margin the retailers want to make. If you make your own panels, buy in kit form or purchase secondhand panels, solar power would be the best approach, if you have the sun, but not quite enough heat.

At the time, gas-powered swimming pool water heating is still by far the simplest to set up and run and so offers the best solution to heating your pool. You will be able to get LPG water heaters secondhand from numerous sources and you will be able to purchase new from the Net as well. EBay is another good source of LPG swimming pool water heaters

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on various topics, but is now involved with Plus Size Bikinis. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Swimwear for Big Busts.

Some individuals say that many of the items that are in a regular western diet are inherently bad for adult human beings. Their argument basically goes that if we were to cut out these things, then we would live longer, healthier lives. Before we take a look at some of these items, I want to point out that not everybody agrees with these points of view.

One of the most well-liked foodstuffs that is not much use to adult human beings is milk. Animal milk is simply too rich for humans and besides that it is acidic and mucous-forming Think about it: why would we be designed to require the milk of other animals after we have been weaned off our own mother’s milk because we no longer required it? It sounds ludicrous, does it not?

Maybe the reason we are told to drink milk is so that farmers can sell it to us. Some of the major problems with drinking milk is the amount of chemicals and growth hormones that were fed to the cow.

It remains in the milk for the benefit of her calves, and we drink the same cocktail of drugs and hormones that is intended to force calfs grow. Unfortunately, the antibiotics given to the cow and the pesticides in her feed also show up in the milk she produces. Regrettably for us humans that is. Milk is also loaded with cholesterol and it’s calcium content is a problem for humans to extract.

It is frequently said that drinking milk will help stave off osteoporosis because of the high calcium content of milk, but if it is a problem for us to extract, then that is a very dubious claim. Why take the chance when you can simply take a couple of calcium pills? In rural Thailand very, very few individuals eat any dairy products at all but a lack of calcium is not a local concern.

Eggs are not that healthy for you either because they are high in cholesterol. They also contain growth hormones, pesticides and antibiotics for the same reasons that milk does. Salmonella is a significant risk if the chickens are not dosed up to the eyeballs with antibiotics. Eggs can also lead to constipation.

Fish is considered a healthy alternative to meat, yet you have to be cautious with that too these days. There is so much heavy metal is some fish like tuna and salmon, that it is recommended not to eat these fish more than once a week.

So it cannot be good to eat it at all if you are eating doses of mercury and whatever else too.

Of course, not all vegetarians stay away from all the foodstuffs listed above. In fact, most vegetarians will eat fish, a few less will eat cheese, eggs and drink milk. The smallest group of common vegetarian creeds is the vegans who will eat none of the above – no animal products whatsoever may pass their lips.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on numerous topics, and is now concerned with low fat low cholesterol diets. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com

Safety is a very necessary part of most sports, but even more so with some, like kiteboarding or kitesurfing as it is also called. It involves using a kite of between two and five metres in length to power surf across a flat surface of water.

This is where the greatest danger comes in, a sudden burst of wind can lift you off the water and carry you away. When the gust of wind drops, you could get dumped on rocks or slammed into the side of a building. The option is to let go of the kite but probably lose it. This gets costly, but being left alone in the open sea is not very attractive either.

The fact is that you can never be entirely safe while you are kiteboarding. However, the least you can do is make an effort. So wear a safety helmet and a vest that will both minimize injury from a crash yet also float. These two things alone will protect you from the lesser types of impact and help you to swim back to shore if needed.

Gloves and knee protectors will also help as will a pair of impact-resistant running or jogging shoes or trainers.

Never disable, and always make use of, any safety devices built into your apparatus. It is there for a point. Some of these features might be quick release buckles or buttons and safety straps so that the kite cannot be torn from your grasp, leaving you stranded far out at sea.

Be sure of the winds that you ride. Both on-shore and off-shore winds are dangerous because the one will carry you out to sea and the other could drag you into cliffs or buildings. The safest wind to ride is a side-shore wind. A side-shore wind will be blowing across the bay, parallel to the shore.

It sounds too obvious to say ‘avoid collisions’, but in a way a crash is more perilous at sea than on land. It will take longer to rescue you and longer to transport you to hospital and you may drown. Therefore, do not kiteboard in busy waters – where there are boats or swimmers. Strive to give a hundred metres clearance to anything that would hurt you if you hit it.

Check the weather forecast and the predicted wind speed and use a kite that is appropriate for that wind speed and your level of skill. Do not endeavor to run before you can walk.

Once your kite is aloft, get out on to the sea (or water) as soon as you can and when you are coming in, keep the kite low, so that there is less chance of you being carried away into the road or buildings.

Carry a knife when you go kitesurfing because lines becoming tangled up is not an uncommon phenomenon but this can have several unpleasant effects. It can lead you off to where you do not wish to go and it can snarl you up cutting deep into your flesh. Be certain that the knife itself poses no threat by keeping it in a robust sheath. Wear safety goggles to avoid being blinded by spray.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, yet is now involved with RX Safety Glasses. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Safety Glasses Bifocal